tawny grammar

The science of being distant

steve — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:15:14 GMT

That’s what he called himself, once, the summer he left for the war, and I’d laughed. Glaciologist. I’d never heard the word before. I’d never considered there might be others like him, scientists who studied only glaciers. I thought he was the one man on earth who bothered that much with them, that this science was his alone, that he had invented it. Arcturology. The science of being distant, and receding a little every year.

~ Thomas Wharton, Icefields

The Cold War's Last Prisoner

steve — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:25:08 GMT

The fence is long gone, and the no-man’s land where it stood now is part of Europe’s biggest nature preserve. The once-deadly border area is alive with songbirds nesting in crumbling watchtowers, foxes hiding in weedy fortifications and animals not seen here for years, such as elk and lynx.

But one species is boycotting the reunified animal kingdom: red deer. Herds of them roam both sides of the old NATO-Warsaw Pact border here but mysteriously turn around when they approach it. This although the deer alive today have no memory of the ominous fence.

@ Wall Street Journal (via Hawk & Handsaw)

Mind in the forest

steve — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:02:13 GMT

Although I have tried meditating for shorter or longer stretches since my college days, forty years ago, I have never been systematic about the practice, nor have I ever been good at quieting what Buddhists call the “monkey mind.” Here beside Lookout Creek, however, far from my desk and duties, with no task ahead of me but that of opening myself to this place, I settle quickly. I begin by following my breath, the oldest rhythm of flesh, but soon I am following the murmur of the creek, and I am gazing at the bright leaves of maples and dogwoods that glow along the thread of the stream like jewels on a necklace, and I am watching light gleam on water shapes formed by current slithering over rocks, and for a spell I disappear, there is only this rapt awareness.

~ Scott Russell Sanders

European Green Belt

steve — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:37:29 GMT

The European Green Belt inititative has the vision to create the backbone of an ecological network that runs from the Barents to the Black sea, spanning some of the most important habitats for biodiversity and almost all distinct biogeographical regions in Europe.

By following a course that was in large sections part of the former east-western border – one of the most divisive barriers in history – it symbolizes the global effort for joint, cross border activities in nature conservation and sustainable development. Moreover, the initiative shall serve to better harmonise human activities with the natural environment, and to increase opportunities for the socio-economic development of local communities.

New Hope For Small Men

steve — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:12:21 GMT

Over at Necessary Fiction, the webjournal I edit, we’ve begun a new undertaking this morning. The first chapter of Grant Bailie’s novel New Hope For Small Men is now available for your reading pleasure, and new chapters will be posted each Monday and Friday for the next few months. I hope you’ve been reading NF’s weekly stories already, and I hope you’ll enjoy this novel, too.